Daina Mittens
In 2006, for the Nato Summit in Riga, Latvian knitters knitted 3800 pairs of mittens for the summit guests.
I saw pictures of these mittens on the Summit website and got inspired by a pair of Kurzeme mittens. These
mittens were the result, and their name, Daina, means 'song' in English.
This pattern uses both a picot edge and afterthought thumb in the mitten. Also, it is knitted mostly with 2 yarns
per row, so some experience in stranded knitting and mitten knitting is required.
Yarn
KnitPicks Palette, 50 g (1,75 oz.) = 231 yds (210 m), White, Ash and Red a total of 3 oz. I used roughly 1 oz
of Ash (grey) and White and only a few yards of Red.
Gauge
36 st and 41 rows = 4" (10 cm).
Needles
US #1 (2,25 mm) DPN's. Adjust needle size if necessary to obtain correct gauge. The mittens are worked in the round,
so you can knit the mittens using magic loop or 4 DPN's instead of 5.
Notions
Provisional yarn (for thumb)
Stitch markers
Safety pin
Tapestry needle
Size
Fits a medium or large woman's hand. If you need to adjust the size, the stitch pattern is divisible by 6, so
add or substract 6 stitches from the total amount of stitches (72 st in the original).
Left mitten
Cast on 72 st (18 st per needle) using white yarn. Join to work in the round, be careful not to twist sts. Place
markers in the beginning of the round and after 36 st to mark the middle of the round. Knit 6 rows. On the next
row, knit the picot edge row: *k2tog, yo*, repeat *-*. This will form a nice edge for the mittens. The first 6
rows in white will be inside the mittens, and the cast on edge is sewn to the inside of the mittens just below
row 1 in chart.
Knit 6 rows in white, continue knitting rows 1-13 on chart. Repeat chart rows 8-13.
Knit chart rows 8-13 a total of 6 times, and rows 8-12 once more before the thumb. On the next row, knit the first
24 st according to pattern and knit next 11 st with provisional yarn for the thumb. Slip these 11 st back to the
left needle and knit them again in pattern. Continue in pattern, until your mitten is long enough (until it covers
the pinkie). You might need to try the mitten on while knitting. Remove the provisional yarn for thumb, pick up sts
carefully and place them on a safety pin.
When mitten is long enough, begin decreases: *slip marker, SSK, knit pattern as set until you have 2 sts remaining
before marker, k2tog*, repeat *-*. Knit pattern as set between decreases, repeat decreases on every row until you
have a total of 8 sts. Cut yarn, and use a tapestry needle to pull the yarn end through all the remaining sts.
(Tip: you can knit the last few rows using grey yarn only.)
Knit the right mitten as the left one, but knit the provisional yarn for the thumb after 37 sts (k 36 sts according
to pattern, slip marker, k 1, and then knit 11 sts with provisional yarn for the thumb).
Thumb: Remove the provisional yarn for the thumb, and pick up sts on both sides of it. Pick up 11 sts below the
provisional yarn, and 11 sts above it, and 1 st between these = 24 sts for the thumb. Place markers at the beginning
of row and after 12 sts to mark the middle of the round. Knit pattern as set until the thumb is long enough (when
trying the mitten on, your own thumb should be completely covered by the mitten thumb). Knit decreases as described
above, until you have a total of 4 remaining sts. Pull the yarn end through all of these using a tapestry needle.
Using a tapestry needle, sew the cast on edge to the inside of the mitten just below chart row 1 to create a picot
edge. Weave in all yarn ends, and steam gently.